Selections from Niccolo Machiavelli’s The
Prince
(Written 1513, Published 1532)
Machiavelli did not seek to construct an ideal Christian community but to discover how politics was actually conducted. His work represents the convergence of politics and reason.
CONCERNING THINGS FOR WHICH
MEN, AND ESPECIALLY PRINCES, ARE PRAISED OR BLAMED
It remains now to see what ought to be the rules of conduct for a prince towards
subject and friends. And as I know that many have written on this point, I
expect I shall be considered presumptuous in mentioning it again, especially as
in discussing it I shall depart from the methods of other people. But, it being
my intention to write a thing which shall be useful to him who apprehends it,
it appears to me more appropriate to follow up the real truth of the matter
than the imagination of it; for many have pictured republics and principalities
which in fact have never been known or seen, because how one lives is so far
distant from how one ought to live, that he who neglects what is done for what
ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation; for a man who
wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what
destroys him among so much that is evil.
Hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do
wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity. Therefore, putting
on one side imaginary things concerning a prince, and discussing those which
are real, I say that all men when they are spoken of, and chiefly princes for
being more highly placed, are remarkable for some of those qualities which
bring them either blame or praise; and thus it is that one is reputed liberal,
another miserly, using a Tuscan term (because an avaricious person in our
language is still he who desires to possess by robbery, whilst we call one
miserly who deprives himself too much of the use of his own); one is reputed
generous, one rapacious; one cruel, one compassionate; one faithless, another
faithful; one effeminate and cowardly, another bold and brave; one affable,
another haughty; one lascivious, another chaste; one sincere, another cunning;
one hard, another easy; one grave, another frivolous; one religious, another
unbelieving, and the like. And I know that every one will confess that it would
be most praiseworthy in a prince to exhibit all the above qualities that are
considered good; but because they can neither be entirely possessed nor
observed, for human conditions do not permit it, it is necessary for him to be
sufficiently prudent that he may know how to avoid the reproach of those vices
which would lose him his state; and also to keep himself, if it be possible,
from those which would not lose him it; but this not being possible, he may
with less hesitation abandon himself to them. And again, he need not make
himself uneasy at incurring a reproach for those vices without which the state
can only be saved with difficulty, for if everything is considered carefully,
it will be found that something which looks like virtue, if followed, would be
his ruin; whilst something else, which looks like vice, yet followed brings him
security and prosperity….
CONCERNING CRUELTY AND
CLEMENCY, AND WHETHER IT IS BETTER TO BE LOVED THAN FEARED
Coming now to the other qualities mentioned above, I say that every prince
ought to desire to be considered clement and not cruel. Nevertheless he ought
to take care not to misuse this clemency. Cesare Borgia was considered cruel; notwithstanding, his cruelty
reconciled the
CHAPTER XVII
CONCERNING CRUELTY AND
CLEMENCY, AND WHETHER IT IS BETTER TO BE LOVED THAN FEARED
…. Upon this a question arises: whether it be
better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that
one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one
person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must
be dispensed with. Because this is to be asserted in general of men, that they
are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous, and as long as you succeed
they are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life, and
children, as is said above, when the need is far distant; but when it
approaches they turn against you. And that prince who, relying entirely on
their promises, has neglected other precautions, is ruined; because friendships
that are obtained by payments, and not by greatness or nobility of mind, may
indeed be earned, but they are not secured, and in time of need cannot be
relied upon; and men have less scruple in offending one who is beloved than one
who is feared, for love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to
the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but
fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.
Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does
not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared
whilst he is not hated, which will always be as long as he abstains from the
property of his citizens and subjects and from their women. But when it is
necessary for him to proceed against the life of someone, he must do it on
proper justification and for manifest cause, but above all things he must keep
his hands off the property of others, because men more quickly forget the death
of their father than the loss of their patrimony. Besides, pretexts for taking
away the property are never wanting; for he who has once begun to live by
robbery will always find pretexts for seizing what belongs to others; but
reasons for taking life, on the contrary, are more difficult to find and sooner
lapse. But when a prince is with his army, and has under control a multitude of
soldiers, then it is quite necessary for him to disregard the reputation of cruelty,
for without it he would never hold his army united or disposed to its duties.
Among the wonderful deeds of Hannibal this one is enumerated: that having
led an enormous army, composed of many various races of men, to fight in
foreign lands, no dissensions arose either among them or against the prince,
whether in his bad or in his good fortune. This arose from nothing else than
his inhuman cruelty, which, with his boundless valor, made him revered and
terrible in the sight of his soldiers, but without that cruelty, his other
virtues were not sufficient to produce this effect. And short-sighted writers
admire his deeds from one point of view and from another condemn the principal
cause of them.
CHAPTER XVIII[*]
CONCERNING THE WAY IN WHICH
PRINCES SHOULD KEEP FAITH
[*] "The present chapter has given greater offence than any other
portion of Machiavelli's writings." Burd,
"Il
Every one admits how praiseworthy it is in a prince to keep faith, and to
live with integrity and not with craft. Nevertheless our experience has been
that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little
account, and have known how to circumvent the intellect of men by craft, and in
the end have overcome those who have relied on their word. You must know there
are two ways of contesting,[*] the one by the law, the
other by force; the first method is proper to men, the second to beasts; but
because the first is frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to have
recourse to the second. Therefore it is necessary for a prince to understand
how to avail himself of the beast and the man… A prince, therefore, being
compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the lion;
because the lion cannot defend himself against snares and the fox cannot defend
himself against wolves. Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the
snares and a lion to terrify the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do
not understand what they are about. Therefore a wise lord cannot, nor ought he
to, keep faith when such observance may be turned against him, and when the
reasons that caused him to pledge it exist no longer. If men were entirely good
this precept would not hold, but because they are bad, and will not keep faith
with you, you too are not bound to observe it with them. Nor will there ever be
wanting to a prince legitimate reasons to excuse this non-observance. Of this endless modern examples could be given, showing how
many treaties and engagements have been made void and of no effect through the
faithlessness of princes; and he who has known best how to employ the fox has
succeeded best.
But it is necessary to know well how to disguise this characteristic, and to
be a great pretender and dissembler; and men are so simple, and so subject to
present necessities, that he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who
will allow himself to be deceived.
Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I
have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall
dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious,
and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful,
humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should
you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the
opposite.
And you have to understand this, that a prince, especially a new one, cannot
observe all those things for which men are esteemed, being often forced, in
order to maintain the state, to act contrary to fidelity,[*] friendship,
humanity, and religion. Therefore it is necessary for him to have a mind ready
to turn itself accordingly as the winds and variations of fortune force it,
yet, as I have said above, not to diverge from the good if he can avoid doing
so, but, if compelled, then to know how to set about it.
For this reason a prince ought to take care that he never lets anything slip
from his lips that is not replete with the above-named five qualities,
that he may appear to him who sees and hears him altogether merciful,
faithful, humane, upright, and religious. There is nothing more necessary to
appear to have than this last quality, inasmuch as men judge generally more by
the eye than by the hand, because it belongs to everybody to see you, to few to
come in touch with you. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know
what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the
many, who have the majesty of the state to defend
them; and in the actions of all men, and especially of princes, which it is not
prudent to challenge, one judges by the result.
For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conquering and holding his
state, the means will always be considered honest, and he will be praised by
everybody; because the vulgar are always taken by what a thing seems to be and
by what comes of it; and in the world there are only the vulgar, for the few
find a place there only when the many have no ground to rest on.
One prince[*] of the present time, whom it is not well to name, never
preaches anything else but peace and good faith, and to both he is most
hostile, and either, if he had kept it, would have deprived him of reputation
and kingdom many a time.
[*] Ferdinand of